''The technocracy is as much a social class as a governing body.''

Excerpt

George Friedman, The Storm Before the Calm: America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond.

Doubleday, February 2020

"For example, journalists for traditionally trusted newspapers, which used to be called the prestige press, have lost their standing. A Gallup poll im 2017 showed that only 27 percent of respondents trusted newspapers to any degree. A poll by the American Association for the Advencement of Science found only 14 percent of the public held universities in high esteem. According to Gallup, the most hihgly trusted institutions are the military at about 75 percent and the police at about 58 percent. The institutons most trusted are those that are perceived to not be drawn from the technocracy."

"Russian stocks advanced more in price than American stocks between 1864 and 1914, but American companies paid larger dividends. Price and dividends offset each other and during that 45-year period, the two stock markets provided approximately equal returns."